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SPORTS

Final hurdle trips UH at C-USA Tournament

Cougars speed through first three rounds, but fall short against Rice in championship game

by Ronnie Turner
The Daily Cougar

Déjà vu was in the air Sunday when Collegiate Baseball No. 11 Houston faced off against No. 1 Rice in the Conference USA Tournament championship game at Rice's Reckling Park.

When the teams met two weeks ago to decide the C-USA regular season championship, the Cougars established an early lead and then watched as the pitching staff squandered it, allowing Rice to clinch the title. On Sunday, it was the same story.

The second-seeded Cougars jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but top-seeded tournament host Rice put together a fierce rally against the Houston bullpen to pull out an 11-5 comeback victory.

UH got on the board with two runs in the first inning against Rice starting pitcher Joe Savery after freshman first baseman Luis Flores singled through the right side with two outs, driving in senior second baseman Isa Garcia and senior outfielder Matt Weston.

Rice responded with a run in the second inning to put the score at 2-1. 

The Cougars put more distance between themselves and the Owls after picking up three runs in the top of the fourth, but Rice roared back with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Savery was pulled from the mound in the third inning, but stayed in the game as the designated hitter and crushed a two-run home run off junior reliever Shea Hancock in the fifth inning to give the Owls a 6-5 lead, their first of the contest. 

Rice piled on the offense from there, scoring four runs in the sixth and one in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Rice reliever Will McDaniel (7-1) earned the victory after shutting out the Cougars on one hit in 3.2 innings of work. In relief of starter Matt Farrington, Hancock (2-3) went 1.2 innings and gave up five earned runs on four hits to pick up the loss.

"Our bullpen was less than spectacular, to say the least," Cougar head coach Rayner Noble said. "I think that kind of sums it up in a nutshell."

Rice (50-10) now has both the C-USA regular season and tournament titles heading into the NCAA Tournament, where the Owls will be a No. 2 national seed as they host a regional at Reckling Park. 

Houston (39-20) netted a No. 2 seed and will be competing at the Norman Regional hosted by Oklahoma. 

The Cougars will meet Wichita State at 1 p.m. Friday.

Houston raced through the first three rounds of the C-USA Tournament, defeating Marshall, East Carolina and Tulane to advance to the championship game against its crosstown rival.

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